PARIS/JAKARTA: Chicago wheat and corn futures eased on Tuesday, with corn setting a fresh four-month low, as traders focused on next week’s peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as well as an advancing US harvest, analysts said.
Soybeans were little changed, after hitting a 2-1/2-month low on Monday when a plunge in crude oil weighed on oilseed markets.
Uncertainty over the outcome of Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States was contributing to subdued activity.
The most-traded wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.62 percent at USD6.02-3/4 a bushel at 1307 GMT, holding near a four-month low of USD5.93-1/4 struck last Wednesday.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia will take part in three-way peace talks with Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11, confirming the scheduled meeting announced on Monday by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
“With pent-up supplies of Russian and Ukrainian grain, if - and that is a big if - we see an end to hostilities, then we could see further pressure on an already relatively bearish market,” said Andrew Whitelaw of Australian agricultural consultancy Episode 3.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, together with rising Russian exports via the Baltic Sea, have tempered worries about war disruption to Black Sea shipments.
CBOT corn was down 0.84 percent at USD4.44-1/2 a bushel, its lowest since July 6.
US farmers had harvested 74 percent of this year’s corn crop by Sunday, slightly ahead of average analyst expectations, US Department of Agriculture data showed.
Harvest progress and an absence of Chinese demand took attention away from news of private sales of 1.7 million metric tons of US corn to Mexico, as reported by the USDA on Monday.
The USDA also reported 136,000 tons of US soybean sales to China, extending a run of demand. But traders have been disappointed by a lack of Chinese buying of other US crops following a commitment to expand bilateral agricultural trade.
China’s lead trade negotiator Li Chenggang met with a US agricultural trade delegation on Monday, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Tuesday.
CBOT soybeans ticked down 0.08 percent to USD12.15-3/4 a bushel, after equalling Monday’s low of USD12.15-1/2.
US farmers had harvested 88 percent of the 2026 crop as of Sunday, slightly ahead of the five-year average.
Crude oil steadied on Tuesday as an overnight US strike on Iran’s Qeshm Island tempered hopes about progress in negotiations to end the countries’ war.
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